fact, if you had not gone to-day it is exceedingly probable that I should have gone to-morrow.

The sun had set and dusk was settling over the moor. The air had turned chill and we withdrew into the hut for warmth. There, sitting together in the twilight, I told Holmes of my conversation with the lady. So interested was he that I had to repeat some of it twice before he was satisfied.

This is most important, said he when I had concluded. It fills up a gap which I had been unable to bridge, in this most complex affair. You are aware, perhaps, that a close intimacy exists between this lady and the man Stapleton?

I did not know of a close intimacy.

There can be no doubt about the matter. They meet, they write, there is a complete understanding between them. Now, this puts a very powerful weapon into our hands. If I could only use it to detach his wife-- --

His wife?

I am giving you some information now, in return for all that you have given me. The lady who has passed here as Miss Stapleton is in reality his wife.

Good heavens, Holmes! Are you sure of what you say? How could he have permitted Sir Henry to fall in love with her?

Sir Henry's falling in love could do no harm to anyone except Sir Henry. He took particular care that Sir Henry did not make love to her, as you have yourself observed. I repeat that the lady is his wife and not his sister.

But why this elaborate deception?